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HOUSE  OF  IIEPRESENTATIVES,  :May   12,    1864.— Laid   on 
the  table  and  ordered  to  be  printed, 

[Bj  Mr.  Orr.1 


RESOLUTIOISrS 

Of  the  Legislature  of  the  State  of  Mississippi  in  Relation  to  the  Recent  Act 
ofJ,he  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  Suspending  the  Privilege  of  the 
Writ  1^  Habeas  Corpus  : 

Whereas,  The  writ  of  habeas  corpus  is  the  great  prerogative  writ  of 
the  American  people,  distinguishing  a  free  and  constitutional  govern- 
ment from  an  absolute  despotism ;  and  whereas,  without  it  the  liberty 
and  the  personal  rights  of  the  citizen  are  without  sanction,  and  their 
violation  without  remedy  ;  and  whereas  this  great  privilege  of  Amer- 
ican citizens  was  inherited  by  them  from  their  ancestors,  and  was 
held  and  exercised  by  them  before  the  establishment  of  any  of  the 
constitutions  of  the  American  States,  after  a  long  and  arduous  strug- 
gle of  five  hundred  years'  duration  against  the  adherents  of  arbitrary 
power  ;  and  whereas  it  is  declared  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Confed- 
erate States,  and  in  that  of  the  State  of  Mississippi,  that  the  privilege 
of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  shall  not  be  suspended  unless  when  in 
cases  of  rebellion  or  invasion  the  public  safety  may  require  it ;  and 
whereas  it  is  also  declared  in  said  constitutions  that  *'  the  right  of 
the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers  and  effects, 
against  unreasonable  searches  and  seizures,  shall  not  be. violated,  and 
no  warrant  shall  issue  but  upon  probable  cause,  supported  by  oath  or 
aflSrmUtion,  and  partially  describing  the  place  to  be  searched,  and  the 
persons  or  things  to  be  seized,"  thereby  iptcnding  to  guarantee  to  the 
American  citizen  the  inalienable  right,  derived  from  the  common  law, 
and  inherited  from  his  English  ancestors,  to  be  secure  from  arr«8t- 
except  upon  warrant  specifying  the  otfence,  and  on  probable  cause, 
supported  by  oath  or  affirmation  ;  and  whereas,  on  the  14th  of  Feb- 
ruary last,  the  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States  did  pass  *an  act 
*'  that  during  the  present  invasion  of  the  Confederate  States,  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  Jwbeas  corpus  be,  and  the  same  is  hereby,  sus- 
pended in  cases  of  persons  arrested^r  detained  by  order  of  the  President 
or^ecretary  of  War,  or  GeneraWfficer  commanding  the  trans-Mis- 
Bissippi  department,  hy  the  authority  and  under  the  control  of  the 
President,"  which-  suspension  extended  to  arrests  or  detentions  in  a 
large  number  of  cases  embraced  in  said  act,  in  many  of  which  no 
specific  crime  is  named  ;  and  whereas,  by  one  of  the  provisions  of  said 
act,  it  i^  declared  "  that  the  President  shall  cause  proper  officers  to 


investi'^ate  the  cases  of  all  persons  so  arrested  or  detained,  in  order 
that  thoy  may  be  discharged,  if  improperly  detained,  unless  they  can 
be  speedily  tried  in  the  due  course  of  law,"  thus  placing  it  in  the 
power  of  tlie  President  of  the  Cohfederate  States  to  confer  on  military 
tribunals,  holding  their  appointments  at  his  will,  ».nd  responsible  only 
to  him,  to  determine  upon  the  rights  and  li-berties  of  the  citizen,  in- 
stead of  leaving  it  to  independent  judicial  tribunals  of  the  country  in 
which  alone  the  constitution  and  laws  have  reposed  that  power,  thus 
evincing  a  jealousy  of  the  civil  power,  which,  in  the  opinion  of  this 
Legislature,  is  not  justified  by  the  circumstances;  and  whereas,  in 
the  opinion  of  this  Legislature,  the  power  of  Congress,  implied  rather 
than  granted  in  the  Constitution  of  the  Confederate  States,  to  suspend 
the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  torj)us,  did  mst,  and  was  not  intended 
to  confer  upon  Congress  the  power  to  authorize  the  arrest  or  deten- 
tion of  the  citizen  without  warrant  and  without  probable  caffse,  sup- 
ported by  oath  or  affirmation,  upon  the  mere  order  of  an  Executive  or 
military  officer,  but  was  intended  only  to  apply  to  cases  where  the 
person  of  such  citizen  was  held  in  custody  under  a  legal  and  consti- 
tutional arrest :   Therefore, 

Be  it  Resolved  by  the  Legidaturc  of  Mississippi,  That  the  act  of 
Congress  suspending  the  privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  is 
dangerous  to  the  liberty  of  the  citizen,  unconstitutional  in  some  of 
its  features,  tends  to  make  the  civil  power  subordinate  to  the  military, 
and  establishes  a  precedent  of  a  doubtful  and  dangerous  character, 
and  should  be  repealed. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  That  the  Senators  of  the  State  of  Mississippi 
in  Congress  be  instructed,  and  the  Representatives  be  requested  to 
take  the  necessary  action  to  secure  the  repeal  of  said  act  at  the 
earliest  possible  period ;  and  if  the  same  is  not  repealed,  the  said 
Senators  are  instructed,*  and  Representatives  requested,  to  vote 
against  the  further  suspension  of  said  privilege ;  and  the  governor  of 
•  the  State  is  hereby  directed  to  transmit  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  to 
the  Senators  and  Representatives  in  Congress. 

Be  it  further  resolved,  .That  in  the  adoption  of  these  resolutions,  it 
is  not  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  to  impute  to  the  President  of 
the  Confederate  States  any  desire  to  arrogate  to  himself  more  power 
than  the  Constitution  has  conferred,  and  that  in  the  opinion  of  .this 
'  Legislature,  it  is  the  duty  of  every  patriotic  citizen  to  uphold  and 
maintain  the  said  President  of  the  Confederate  States  in  the  legitimate 
exercise  of  the  constitutional  powers  conferred  on  him. 

Approved  April  5,  1864. 


